I'm Not That Kind Of Annie
by robert3A-SN
Summary: The group comes to fear that Annie has gotten herself hooked on Adderall again. Yet only Jeff doubts that she could have done that – although neither he nor Annie know that Annie Kim is actually getting Adderall into her system. Based on an idea by Hypnotoad76, now beta read by crittab. Complete.
1. Act 1, Part 1

**This was originally an idea and planned out fanfic from Hypnotoad76, but when he didn't have time to write it out, I got him to give me the rights to the idea. However, the central idea of the fic is all his.**

On Tuesday, Annie seemed particularly focused on her studies, which her friends didn't see as out of the ordinary.

On Wednesday, she seemed more single minded and glued to her books, which was only a slight red flag.

But even Annie didn't sustain this kind of studying energy for three straight days. When she did on Thursday – and made both Troy and Pierce cry for distracting her from her textbook review – eyebrows were raised.

By Friday, the group was ready to bring it up to Annie at the morning study session. Or they would have if she let them get a word in edgewise. Even Jeff couldn't break her concentration, and he was….Jeff.

When their class finally ended, and Annie answered virtually every question, the rest of the group finally broke away from her as she rushed to her next class.

"Okay, even for her, this is weird, right?" Britta double checked. "Is she going nuts so she can be valedictorian or something?"

"No, that shouldn't happen until April. This is too soon to start setting up series finale plotlines," Abed noted. "And she can't be stressing out over her new major, because she played that out in the first half of the year. We can't end things by being that repetitive."

"Maybe she's just having one last big affair with studying before they break up in May," Shirley theorized.

"No, if she were having a 'one last school fling' plotline, it wouldn't be with studying," Abed pointed out, with Jeff turning away from him almost by instinct. After all, there was no use in legitimizing Abed's dumb TV theories with classic Winger zingers.

"As long as it's a plotline where she lets me finish my Lee Merriweather stories in peace again, I'm good!" Pierce chimed in.

"And yet it's still worth it to find out what's wrong with her anyway, believe it or not," Britta quipped. "I believe it because she won't even let us goof off in the study room anymore! And it's less fun in the apartment too, right Troy?"

"And yet despite how she's cutting down on your sex sinning, it's still worth trying to help her. Believe it or not," Shirley echoed.

"Remember that when we find out that this is religion's fault, okay?" Britta insisted. "Hell, it's either that or she's back on Adderall again!"

Whether Britta was being serious, or got caught up in her latest religion tirade, even she didn't know. But the mere mention of Adderall, the memory of Annie's past with it – and her suspicious behavior all week – combined to make them think long and hard about a point _Britta _made. That meant this had to be serious.

However, there was one person who could be a better authority on this. And for once, he was asked to be an authority on something other than LeVar Burton, Inspector Spacetime, Abed, AC repair, or how to cut Britta's rambling down by a few precious minutes.

"Troy, you saw Annie drug out in high school," Shirley reminded him. "Is she acting like she was back then?"

"How would he know that, he never noticed her in high school!" Pierce, of all people, remembered. "He was too busy being cool! He had to pass the time before her boobs came out somehow!"

While everyone else was groaning at Pierce, Troy actually ignored a boobs comment for once. "What if that's it?" he asked. "What if she's back on Adderall and we can notice it this time?"

"That kind of plot would be completely out of tone for our wacky series," Abed predicted, yet began to think deeper.

"Then again, her dark history should be out of tone for this saga as well, and yet it's there. And if there's a last-ditch effort to renew us, this would be the overly dramatic, watercooler worthy kind of twist that would come up out of desperation." Abed sighed and concluded, "I hate to admit it, but if we have to have a creative downfall to get renewed….Annie being on pills again could be possible."

"Oh come on, she's too classy and smart for that!" Pierce defended. "She knows there are far better drugs to get her going by now! She's the only one who listens to my stories, so she _would _know!"

"And yet she's worth saving from Adderall anyway, believe it or not!" Troy got into.

As the group began to bicker, debate and then talk themselves into worrying that Annie was on Adderall, they were ignorant to a few other things. Namely that none of them had gone to their next classes.

And the fact that since Annie and Adderall were linked together, Jeff hadn't said a single word.

The rest of the group tried to keep quiet again at lunch, so as not to give anything away to Annie. Yet it barely mattered, as Annie's mind was elsewhere and when she did talk, it was only about studying over the weekend. This made her friends worry for a wide variety of reasons.

However, there was one person sitting nearby who wasn't worried at all. In fact, Annie's odd behavior filled her with hidden glee.

It also filled her with relief, since no one was on to her little plan, or how she was getting Adderall into Annie's system. But even if those study group lunatics ever found out, it would be after graduation - and after Annie was in a mental institution, rehab clinic or both for good.

By then, Annie Kim would be in the clear.

She would leave Greendale on top like she was supposed to, she wouldn't be upstaged by some crazy, pill head doppelganger any more, and all would be right with the world again. And all that amateur Annie's idiot friends were doing was helping her.

Hell, she didn't even have to break into her apartment and keep drugging her over the weekend. After all, letting Annie enjoy one last weekend was the least Annie Kim could do.


	2. Act 1, Part 2

**A major credit to crittab for handling beta duties the rest of the way.**

Annie should have felt better than she did. It was mid-January, there were only a few months until graduation, she was excelling at her new major, and her school work this week was some of her best ever. And after she finished studying ahead for next week's work this weekend, she would rise even higher.

But she got the weirdest feeling from the group yesterday. And she had been feeling a little….iffy inside since yesterday as well. Still, it was probably nothing that a good few hours of studying wouldn't cure. Annie had always found solace in her books, if nothing else.

Yet even her books couldn't distract her from Troy and Abed barging into her room with camera equipment.

"This should be a great location for that scene in that place, huh Abed?" Troy said very weirdly. "Just gotta give it the old once over!"

"You gotta what?" Annie asked with a frown, as Abed looked through the top of her drawer. "Actually, no! First you gotta tell me why you're here without my permission! Didn't we settle this after the 8'th time?!"

"I know, I know, but we ran out of locations! I'm sure once we go over this place, it'll fail the inspection and our shoot will be ruined, don't worry!" Troy assured as Abed went under Annie's bed.

"I can save you the time, it failed! Now go away, please, I'm trying to study!" Annie insisted.

"Are the robots telling you to say that? Or is it some other cool space guy this time? We'll turn the cameras off, if that's what he's worried about!" Troy promised as Abed went into Annie's closet.

"What?" Annie asked incredulously. "I'm the only one here!"

"And it's gonna stay that way, even though you're on–" Troy started before clamming up, albeit not soon enough.

"On what? Troy? Abed?" Annie demanded as Abed emerged from the closet.

"For the record, I had planned to get you out of the house first. But Troy figured out we should go right to searching your room," Abed explained.

"Searching my room?! What the hell?" Annie asked before she figured out the answer. "What the hell do you think is in here, _Troy?_"

"Well, if the Adderall's not in the closet or under the bed, what I thought was wrong anyway!" Troy sighed as Annie started to fume.

"Excuse me?" Annie demanded to know.

"Look, Annie, we looked it up on the Internet! Your symptoms are just like the ones for Adderall, like you had last time! I let you down in high school, but the Internet gives me credibility again! I got good credit, Annie!" Troy repeated.

"You have….you really…." Annie sputtered before turning to Abed. "Abed, do you _believe_ this?!"

"I didn't want to. But your symptoms and the way you've acted this week made my wishes irrelevant. Now I know how Glee viewers feel every week," Abed lamented.

That iffy feeling inside of Annie came back in a flurry. Part of it was rage, part of it was sadness – and part of it was the beginning of withdrawal symptoms, unknown to her or anyone. But it all combined to make Annie furious at her roommates.

"How dare you!" Annie spat out. "Just because I'm doing better at school, you think I'm on pills?! The fact that you think I _could_….I, I, I can't even _look _at you two right now!"

So to make sure she wouldn't, Annie stormed out of her room and out of the apartment. However, it didn't take her long to run into her newer roommate in the hall.

"It didn't work, huh? I figured as much. Even Abed's plan wouldn't have worked, really," Britta figured. "At least my way gets rid of the evil, patriarchal stigma of drugs, while helping you get free of the Man's stash at the same time! It'll be a win for you and for civil rights!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Annie groaned. "Did _you _make them think I was on pills again?"

"No! Well, technically, I mentioned Adderall as a joke first. But Troy connected the dots! So don't brush off your relapse just because _I_ brought it up first!" Britta credited.

"Thanks, now I can't look at _any _of you!" Annie growled before storming out.

Despite her emotions and condition, she managed to drive to Shirley's house to find solace there. But after Annie vented about her roommates, Shirley muttered that she knew they sent the wrong group member to 'cleanse' her. It didn't take long for Annie to figure out that Shirley believed them anyway, and she left even more rapidly.

With no more totally reliable friends left, Annie felt even more alone. Pierce would make it worse, and she didn't want to think about what Jeff would say. Defeated, she just went back to her place, stayed in her room the rest of the weekend, locked the door and listened to her old study notes to drown everyone else out.

Annie's nerves, irritability and devotion to her studies clearly got worse. But she credited it to her frustration over her so-called friends, and her need to distract herself. If she were thinking clearly enough to access her memory, she'd recognize the withdrawal symptoms. But she was so mad at them for thinking that she could take Adderall again, she refused to consider it.

That was also why she got to school earlier than usual on Monday morning, before she could be cornered again. It also explained why she wouldn't go into the study room either – and why the more typically late Jeff finally found her in the library.

"You're late, too? I just had to stumble into Abed's parallel timelines on a Monday," Jeff quipped, although it was a bit forced.

"I'm avoiding them for a reason, Jeff! I don't know if you've paid enough attention to know why!" Annie snapped, more harshly than intended.

But Jeff knew all too well – and not just from the group flooding his cell phone over the weekend. His weekend had already been ruined by thinking about all this – and not just because of the revenge fantasies on whoever might have given Annie Adderall. He hoped it was Rich, if only because he'd already worked out how to kill him and get away with it.

Yet even when Annie was well, he wouldn't want her to know how much he'd been thinking about her – for any reason. He certainly wouldn't put that on possibly strung out Annie. So he just simply said, "They blew up my voice mail this weekend, so I've got an idea."

"I don't believe this. I might expect this from Britta, maybe, but not all of them!" Annie voiced. "How could they _all _think I was doing….._that _again?"

Jeff took a look at her, and really had to bite his tongue not to answer that. However, after spending a whole weekend trying not to worry about her, and barely succeeding, he couldn't hold it in all that well. But he was at least going to be more diplomatic about it than they were.

"Annie, you have to admit you've been more…..stressed out and study crazy lately. Even for you. And apparently they looked up your symptoms on the Internet, and it would never lie to them, so…." Jeff finished, frustrated that he had to make a joke out of habit – just habit.

"I know Adderall symptoms, Jeff. They ruined my life once, and they're not doing it again because I didn't take anything! I think I'd know that better than they would!" Annie insisted. "I thought they knew _me_ better," she added in a sadder tone.

"They know you well enough to know when something's wrong!" Jeff attempted to get through to her. "You _have _to admit _something's_ wrong with you, Annie! The way you've acted all week, the way you ignored us _before _this weekend, the way you stopped having fun outside of school again! Maybe they're off base a bit, but they're not the whole reason you're acting like this. If you think about it, you know they're right to worry!"

Jeff took a deep breath and clammed up, hoping he didn't push her too far. Yet Annie seemed to consider his words.

"Maybe…." she started quietly. "Maybe I'm going through some things. Things I don't understand myself. But I _know _it's not because of Adderall. I would never put myself through that again. I've come too far….but they think I would anyway."

"Annie..." Jeff started before getting cut off.

"Jeff, just let me say this,"Annie begged, and Jeff silently agreed. "You know how I was before I met you guys. You know how much I've changed and gotten better because of you. I've found everything I ever wanted here, and I'm finally going to do something I really love when I leave. Why would I ruin all that now? The old me _might _have, but that's not me anymore!"

Before Jeff could argue or agree, Annie went back into a sad tone. "They should know that better than anyone. I mean, I'm a stronger and better person because I know them. And yet they jumped right to thinking I would take Adderall again anyway! If they think I'm someone who _could _do that, even now…." she trailed off once more, before resuming, "I just didn't think they would all assume that. Especially now."

Jeff bit his tongue against his swirling doubts, deciding to take a non-confrontational route. "They're just worried about you. And for good reason."

"And how can they help me if they think I'd be that stupid again?" Annie questioned. "People who know me and respect me better wouldn't do that!"

"Annie…." was all Jeff could say yet again, lost for a better answer.

"Jeff, you know me. You may not always be that observant, but you do know me. With everything you know about me, everything I've been through and everything I'm trying to be….do you _really _think I'd let myself take Adderall again?"

"Are you trying to Disney me? Because your Disney face looks out of whack. That kind of worries me more," Jeff said before he could censor himself.

"Jeff, be serious, please!" Annie pleaded. "Just tell me if you think I'd let myself do this again! Please think about it, and then tell me honestly. Okay?"

For her benefit, Jeff thought about the things he knew about Annie Edison, everything she'd been through, everything she had become and everything she represented. Would Annie really let herself take Adderall again and throw away all that progress?

And quicker than he expected, Jeff knew his answer. He knew there was only one possible answer.

"No. You're right," Jeff admitted. "You're not taking Adderall again. You couldn't…." As that washed over him, he couldn't stop himself before adding, "I'm sorry I doubted you."

Annie smiled at him, although it wasn't her old Disney smile, or even her bright regular Annie smile. Yet it was the first real smile he'd seen from her in a week. And the first real one directed right at him in some time.

And then as quickly as it appeared, it completely vanished. "If _you _can see that, why can't they?" Annie asked, probably rhetorically. Jeff didn't even have an answer anyway – and it seemed Annie wasn't in the mood to hear one now.

Somehow, Jeff suspected he'd said the wrong thing, even when he actually tried to get it right. He suspected it further when he and Annie finally went into the study room, and Annie remained frosty to everyone. They tried to apologize, but insisted they could help her get better, which only made things worse.

At the least, Annie wasn't as off balance at the end of the day as she was at the beginning. Yet she was back to studying non-stop and giving everyone the cold shoulder.

This probably should have made Jeff re-think his answer from this morning. It almost did a couple of times. But the more he thought about Annie, the more he just…._knew_ she wouldn't relapse like that. She was too….

Anyway, whatever she was, she wasn't an Adderall junkie again. Jeff didn't know how he knew – he just knew and there was no getting around it.

Just like there was no getting around that something was still seriously wrong with her.

Whatever it was, it was making Annie a shell of her old self, and it was hurting the group dynamic. Something like that could make it harder for Jeff to graduate out of here alive. It'd probably make him wish he had graduated earlier when he had the chance. But he didn't because of….and now look where that got everyone.

This meant Jeff would have to clean up the mess and find out what was really happening.

And since everyone else was convinced she was just on Adderall – especially Troy, for some odd reason – Jeff realized he would have to do this by himself.


	3. Act 2, Part 1

Paying close attention to what others were doing wasn't Jeff's usual style, and he couldn't do something simple like spend more one-on-one time with Annie, without making her hide whatever was happening to her. In any case, Jeff still worked out a game plan by the end of Monday night.

He would pay close attention to Annie whenever they were together, but hire some pinch hitters to check on her when they were apart. He would bribe a student from each of Annie's other classes to observe her, and report to Jeff at the end of the day. He would up asking only women, since they were more gossipy than boys. It made sense.

Jeff started observing Annie on Tuesday morning, and was sad to see that she didn't look any better than she did the day before. She just wasn't herself, and her mood wasn't helped by the group's incessant attempts to 'rehabilitate' her. Even when they tried to talk about things other than Annie, she barely spoke to them.

Jeff just hoped that his spies in her other classes would catch her in a better mood. Unfortunately, when the group reconvened for lunch, Annie looked and acted about the same. In fact, she seemed to be even more tense by the end of it.

Since Annie and the rest of the group weren't on good terms right now, everyone went their separate ways after their afternoon study session and didn't even bother to meet after school. This actually benefited Jeff, since he could sneak away and get his reports from his network of spies.

When Jeff heard from everyone, he went straight home to write it all down before he forgot. Once he had a timeline of everything Annie did that day, he studied it to try and find a pattern. But neither he nor anyone else saw Annie do anything that could explain her behavior – yet Jeff needed a few more days to observe her Greendale routine, just to be sure.

He got through Wednesday without any trouble, as Annie and the group were still too distracted to notice his activities. Yet by the end of school on Thursday, Jeff was becoming deflated. No matter what he found out about Annie's activities, nothing told him what was going on.

Besides spending more time in the library, away from the group, she was doing the same things she always did. She was just acting worse in the process – and probably not because of her strained relationship with the group.

Jeff was surprised the group hadn't confronted her again by now. The situation probably called for it. Yet for the moment, Jeff was relieved they hadn't screwed this up any further. But it did no good if he couldn't figure out what he was missing.

It wasn't like he watched Annie any less closely. Whenever they were together, he glanced at her every chance he got. He saw every little twitch, movement and speed reading tactic she had. He saw how she seemed testy in the morning study sessions, but was more focused – and worse, in some ways – at lunch and in the afternoon.

Wait a minute.

Once Jeff realized that trend at the end of Thursday's afternoon session, he left as quickly as possible to sort the rest out. He walked through the halls on autopilot, thinking deeply about every single school day over the last two weeks. He remembered this week's days more vividly, since he wrote every detail about them, but now he had to go through last week completely by memory.

Every memory he had seemed to back up his new theory. He could clearly remember how Annie acted different in the morning than she did in the afternoon. It wasn't a gigantic change, but one that someone could pick up if they watched her close enough – like Jeff had done.

If Annie was doing something to enhance her focus, then she had to be doing it around lunch time. When Jeff's spies gave him their reports that afternoon, they seemed to confirm his suspicions. Yet Jeff's mind continued to wander as his spies kept talking.

If this was happening at lunch time, he should have noticed it since he could watch her then. But the group always met up right after their last pre-lunch class ended – and Jeff had had his spies watch Annie as she went to the cafeteria every day. There was no way she could have popped pills at that time without someone noticing her.

"So you're sure she didn't take anything between your class and the cafeteria?" Jeff asked, seeking assurance.

"Not a chance," said Gillian. "Although she was pounding back her coffee pretty hard. If I didn't know better, I'd think it was spiked."

Jeff's head shot up at that.

Gillian was right. Annie had been drinking coffee non-stop. How had he missed it?

Annie had stated clearly to Jeff that she wasn't taking Adderall, and he believed her. But if the only thing she was consuming in the morning was coffee, then…

Someone was drugging her every morning for the past two weeks.

"Shit!" Jeff suddenly called. Of course, Gillian, Alison, Yvette, Megan, Amy, Jenna and Tina were puzzled to have their reports interrupted like that.

Jeff apologized and told them to continue, but he soon went back to barely listening. He was too busy wondering which cafeteria workers he'd have to frame for unspeakable crimes. Yet before he imagined them being tortured by a Whitney marathon, his rational mind barged back in.

Ever since Annie started her new major, she drank a special blend of coffee during her morning classes to help her focus. It didn't make her act any different during the last semester, so no one thought it had anything to do with her current behavior. However, the cafeteria workers made that special cup every morning because they liked her so much that it would be ready for her.

That gave some criminal mastermind enough time to sneak in, put some ground up pills in Annie's coffee, sneak away and watch her drink the Adderall all down.

She was probably getting more and more ground up pills with every mug full. And it'd keep going until she inevitably.…

"Son of a bitch!" Jeff blurted out. He then noticed his now-useless staff and informed them in no uncertain terms, "Show's over. You're all fired."

He had to go home and write down everything he figured out, before he forgot even one detail. Combine it with his notes so far, and it'd have to be the report of his life. It had to be nothing less than a full, complete timeline of the last two weeks before Jeff could show it to the police, Annie, or anyone else.

Maybe it'd give him more clues to figure out the culprit as well. Then he could save the police and Annie the trouble of putting him/her in a coma.

Later that afternoon, long after Jeff had disappeared from campus to work on his report, Troy, Britta and Abed were waiting around in the study room, while Pierce and Shirley went to lure Annie there by themselves. After a few minutes, they returned with her, and she looked….far from her best.

"So they told me you wanted to apologize?" Annie expected.

"That's right, Annie. We're sorry that we didn't do this sooner," Troy set up.

"Annie, we're all here for you," Britta started. "We're going to give you the help you need, without the help of corporate doctors or reality shows. First everyone will tell you how your Adderall addiction has affected them, and then the healing can begin."

"Ah, going for a traditional opening instead of a Celebrity Rehab tactic. It would have been nice to know that before my overnight Celebrity Rehab marathon, but that's okay," Abed commented.

Before Britta or Abed could get off topic with a rehab reality tv rant, Annie got them back on course – albeit furiously. "Are you serious? Are you interventioning me?" she asked. "For a problem I don't even have?!"

"Yes you do! We all know it, why don't you?" Shirley questioned. "Maybe when I repeat it at the end of my speech, you'll get the message!"

"I thought we agreed this was too important for teasers. You could have at least said Spoiler Alert first," Abed pointed out.

"All right, Spoiler Alert, we cure Annie! Sorry to drain the suspense for you, okay?" Shirley bit back.

"As long as you're being sincere. We're on shaky enough narrative ground as it is, you know," Abed warned.

"Are you kidding?!" Annie threw her somewhat shaky hands up. "_This _is my pointless intervention? Britta, did you make this up just to get psych credits?!" But before Britta could answer, Annie turned to Troy. "No wait, I remember. This is still all _your _doing, isn't it?"

"It's not _all _me just because I got the idea! Give them some credit too!" Troy argued.

"Oh, I will. But not before I ask you why the _hell _you care!" Annie lashed out. "Why are you hoping so much that I _am _on Adderall? Shouldn't you be obsessed with your actual _girlfriend_?! Or haven't you made her jealous enough?!"

"Hey! My dumb jealousy and Madison Avenue's culpability isn't the issue!" Britta jumped in.

"No, the issue is that your boyfriend is nuts! Making up these lies about me, just so he can play the hero! Well, you're five years _way _too late, pal!" Annie assured. "Besides, I'm not Inspector Spacetime or Abed or butt stuff, so why would you even _think _about me?!"

"Because I'm not gonna be too late this time to help you!" Troy promised.

"Not a mispronounced word or an Abed reference in there. Can you be any more out of character?" Annie taunted. "And you're being this….well, not you….just to make up _lies _about me! And you made them believe it too! But if you all really cared about me and knew me, you wouldn't believe them, so what does _that _say?!"

"I know one of the Celebrity Rehab Season 4 episodes has the answer. They're all such an awful blur, though," Abed thought over.

"_You're_ awful blurs!" Annie declared. "You….you all think I'm nothing but a weak, pill popping girl. You buttered me up for years, and you show your true colors _now?!_ How could you string me along like that? I thought this place was different…..I thought _you _were different!"

Annie began to get dizzy from her ramblings and her condition. What's more, the memories of the past were beginning to kick in – quite vividly. "You're all against me…..you made me think people could _like _me, and then you do this! You're all against me…." she repeated.

The others didn't know quite how to approach her, as she bent down and seemed ready to throw up. However, Annie lifted her head back up, and then got more bug eyed than ever.

"I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!" Annie screamed. she yelled at the group. "Stay back! Your lies won't work on me!" For once, everyone was just as confused as Pierce was.

"Annie….do you need to sit down?" Shirley carefully asked.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you? You'd all like it!" Annie figured. "Because you're all liars! Every one of you!"

After recognizing the first time he'd heard Annie go off like this – only with robots involved – Troy looked back at the glass windows by instinct. But Annie caught him in the act. "Oh no, I'm not falling for that again! Not when I can take you down right now!"

In a mad dash in more ways than one, Annie charged at Troy and tackled him to the ground. She tried to get her hands around his neck as Troy struggled and the others were stunned in shock – or fear. "Annie, don't! This doesn't feel so good on dry land!" Troy rasped out.

"Shut up, you're not lying to me anymore! I won't let you!" Annie cried out while struggling to get Troy around his neck.

She had to do something, or else this cult of brainwashing liars could destroy her like those robots in high school. They forced her out of the Ivy League and into rehab where everyone else abandoned her….even her mom because she….she….

Because Annie wanted to get help for a problem her mom didn't want to address.

The problem of her Adderall addiction. Even though it….it….

It made her see the robots. And nothing like that had happened ever since, until now.

But wasn't there something about those robots not being real? They made her run into a glass window, but they….

Those robots weren't real. And if they weren't real, then maybe this wasn't real either. Which meant….

All of a sudden, this cult leader didn't seem like an evil mastermind. He looked like Troy. A scared, pinned to the floor, crying a little less than usual Troy.

And those people around her weren't evil either. They were Annie's scared friends.

The friends who betrayed her and thought she could take Adderall again! Even though…. she just acted exactly like her old addict self.

She insisted she couldn't possibly be that weak again. And yet she just acted out worse than she did even then. She didn't even have friends to lash out at and attack back then….and she just did it to them now.

Once that sunk in, Annie yelled and crawled backwards away from Troy. The others backed off from her, probably too scared to even look at her. Because they saw just how insane she really was.

Was. As in not insane anymore. But….but what was this if not insane?

It was a repeat of five years ago, is what it was. And Annie knew how the rest of it was supposed to play out.

"You're gonna run away from me, aren't you?" she squeaked out quietly. "You're gonna be embarrassed by me, you're gonna act like I never existed….and you're gonna be ashamed you ever knew me…." she began to tear up.

"Nah, come on!" Britta tried to be too light. "If we kicked people out for meltdowns, there'd be no one left to kick! Granted, this was a special meltdown, but not _that _special!"

"What she's _trying _to say…." Shirley warned Britta off with a look before going back to Annie. "She's trying to say we're not gonna do _any _of that. Not ever."

"But you think….and you saw me…." Annie whispered.

"You think because we think you're on pills, we'd stop liking you?" Pierce spoke out. "How would you all love me if we lived like that?"

"And we do _actually _love you," Shirley backed up. "We love you so much, we've been worried sick about you!"

"I endured Dr. Drew and Gary Busey so I could help craft your intervention," Abed reminded. "I don't know if I could sit through Hoarders, if that's your next addiction. But I'd at least think about it."

"The point is, we haven't lost any respect for you. We'll do anything to help you, Annie, and we're not going to stop until we do. That's how much we need healthy you," Britta chose the right words for once.

Troy then finally spoke through his sniffles and capped off, "Yeah, I mean you're….well….you're our Annie…."

Every one of them looked at Annie with the kind of love, support and faith that she just wasn't used to. They were the looks she'd starved for back at high school and rehab. They were the looks that her own mother couldn't even muster. They told her that no matter how crazy, embarrassing and awful Annie had been, she could still be loved.

They could believe the worst about her _and_ still love her.

How could she be awful enough to doubt that?

As it all came crashing down on her, all Annie could get out was a quiet "I'm sorry…." before the tears came down.

Shirley was the first to kneel down and hug her. Annie felt some of the others join in and make it a group hug, but she couldn't tell where they were. Her face was buried into Shirley's arm and crying all over her clothes, as her pain, insecurities, regret – and the overdue realization that something was _really _wrong with her – filled her entire body.

She felt more than two soothing hands rub her back and head, although she couldn't hear any encouragement over her sobs. Eventually, Annie quieted down enough that she could put herself back together.

Now that reality had set in and she had some actual moments of clarity, she began to feel like a human being again. And the bare minimum that a human could do was get up on her own two feet.

Annie gently broke away from Shirley and the others, then got to her feet and looked through her purse. She found some tissues to wipe her tears away, then got out a mirror – and for the first time in days, she took a real look at herself.

Without anything to distract her, she could finally see how worn out her face really was. There was no life in Annie's face, or at least not the kind she wanted to show. And she knew this wasn't just because of the last several minutes.

In fact, she knew damn well that her face hadn't looked like this in five years – or at least she could admit it to herself now. "What the hell is happening to me?" Annie asked to herself.

"Wait, you still haven't figured it out yet?" Pierce wondered. "We hugged it out and you're still in denial? Ari Gold lied to us!"

Instead of being offended, Annie laughed at Pierce's slightly less old than usual references. But she got serious again and voiced, "I know how this looks now. But I promise you, I'm not on Adderall. I mean….I'm not going out and getting those pills again. I _know _I'm not…."

"We want to believe you so much, pumpkin. But everything you've done…." Shirley couldn't finish.

"I know that now, I do!" Annie repeated. "But I swear to you, I'm not doing this to myself! I gave up so much so I _wouldn't _do it again!" Instead of then accusing them of not respecting her again, she put more thought into it.

"We're good now, we really are!" Annie reassured. "But you still think I let myself take pills. I know I'd never do that on purpose, and I _didn't_. If you don't believe me….then you can't really help me."

"If we had anything else to go on, we would!" Britta promised. "But the evidence is too strong, even you know that now! Who else would ignore it?"

No one in this room other than Annie was ignoring it. But there was someone else who wasn't in the room. For the first time, Annie realized that there was one person missing – the only one who showed anything resembling faith in her. If that was still true….

"I need to see Jeff," Annie declared. "I need to see him now."

"Oh, you want to see the guy who _actually _doesn't care?" Britta asked. "He didn't care enough to help us all week, and he's clearly gone home right now!"

"Then that's where I'll find him," Annie announced.

"You can't drive there, not on _your _pills! Now if you'd gone with Xanax, we could talk!" Pierce pointed out.

"I'll take the bus and walk, okay?" Annie filled in, then got her things together to leave. "Don't tell him I'm coming. I need to ask him something, and he can't have time to soften up the truth. No matter what it is."

The group was in silence for several seconds after Annie left. They still didn't speak when they all took their phones and tried to call Jeff, despite Annie's warning.

But they were truly speechless when they dialed his cell phone number – and it went straight to voice mail. Jeff Winger's phone was actually turned off.

Even Celebrity Rehab couldn't work miracles like that.


	4. Act 2, Part 2

Jeff went over everything he wrote in his notes for the third time. He had all the important details, data and theories from the last two weeks – and yet nothing told him who was behind it all. Maybe if he went over the ways in which Chang couldn't have done it again, he might find a loophole.

Yet poking holes in Chang's surprising innocence had to wait for now. There was a knock on the door, and Jeff went over to send the culprit away and get back to work. But that plan was shattered when he opened the door and saw Annie.

"You missed my intervention," Annie stunned him further.

"I what?" was all Jeff had.

"You really don't know? So you weren't protesting it by not coming?" Annie kept blindsiding him.

Once Jeff caught up enough, he growled out, "Those oblivious little…." This seemed as good and as promising an opening as Annie had.

"Do you still believe me?" she got right to it as she came inside. "Do you still think I'm not on Adderall?"

"Well, um…." Jeff knew he should have said yes right away. But if his theory was right, it was a lot more complicated than that. How could he explain it when he didn't know the most important details yet – like whose skull to crack open?

"Jeff, I need the truth, please. You can give me all the half-truths and lies you want after this. But just give me a clear cut answer first, just this once. Do you still believe me?" Annie pleaded for an answer.

Jeff took in how Annie had at least straightened her hair and gotten some color back in her face. But she still looked more sad and lost than she had in the last two weeks. What the hell had those nitwits done to her?

Sadly, this was one time Jeff couldn't get out of complicated things with Annie. Not if she was being put through the ringer while his back was turned. Maybe _some _real answers would work better than a pointless intervention.

"Annie, I believe you more than ever," Jeff started, in hopes of softening the next few blows. "Even though you _are _on Adderall again."

"What? Jeff, what kind of answer is that?" Annie wondered incredulously.

"It's more like a theory, really!" Jeff qualified as a disclaimer. "But it's a mostly convincing one. It's one where….someone's been drugging your coffee with Adderall for two weeks."

Jeff could have tried to explain it further, but this was a delicate situation. He didn't know how stable Annie was, and he barely ever used the right words with a healthy Annie as it was. But when he saw Annie's hurt and confusion, he decided to let his notes explain for him.

Jeff turned to the first page, led Annie to his couch and let her sit down to read everything he knew. But by the time she got to the final pages – with a blank expression throughout – Jeff knew he had a few things to explain.

"I just started this on Tuesday, so I only hid it from you for three days, technically," he excused. "I know it was creepy to sic spies on you. But trust me, it was the only way I knew how to find out what was going on."

Annie didn't question his response, or even look that surprised, so Jeff continued, "I spent this whole afternoon putting it all together, but I don't know who's behind it yet. I hoped I could figure it out and tell you by tonight, but I've got nothing!"

Annie put the notebook down as Jeff listed his failed suspects. "Sadly, Chang wouldn't go near pills of _any _kind, and this is too small time for City College. Rich is probably the supplier, because he's sick like that, but he would have come after me if he was _that _sick. This isn't weird and cult-y enough for the AC school, Slater's been gone way too long to get revenge now, and Adderall isn't Mike's pill of choice… that rules out pretty much everyone."

"It's Annie," Annie stated simply.

"No, you're not blaming yourself for this just to let me off the hook," Jeff insisted.

"I'm too busy blaming other Annie, Jeff," Annie kept being weirdly calm.

"Okay, I know Adderall doesn't create multiple personalities, so….this is you trying to joke?" Jeff still didn't get it.

"Annie Kim, Jeff! Annie 2, other Annie, Asian Annie, or whatever made up name you have! _That _Annie did this to me, I know it!" Annie finally exploded.

"Oh, _that _other Annie!" Jeff remembered. "I usually remember Annie's who hurt the money maker," he tried to quip about the near-concussion Annie 2 gave him at the Hunger Deans. But Annie wasn't laughing or bringing up her own crimes against the money maker, so Jeff moved on. "If you know it's her….sharing it with me might have been useful a while ago."

"I didn't know until now, but it's so obvious! She made sure I couldn't see it until now! Now that's a classic Annie move!" Annie gave faint praise. "She's obviously jealous of me and how well I'm doing. She let it stew all throughout winter break, then she came up with a grand plan to destroy me!" she started to describe as she got up.

"She waited until the week _after _we came back to get started, when I'd least suspect it. That gave her more than enough time to buy pills and target my coffee! She knew I was doing so well in my new major, I wouldn't suspect anything if I did even better! And she knew that when the group accused me, I'd be so angry at them that I wouldn't even try to figure out the truth! She planned it out to the last detail!" Annie declared in a rush.

"Then how did she get past the roommate brigade to drug you last weekend? Plans and logic have no place in that realm," Jeff reminded.

"She didn't drug me last weekend. She couldn't because I didn't have my coffee; but that's the evil genius!" Annie kept piecing together. "I was only on Adderall for four days by then! My withdrawal symptoms wouldn't be that bad yet, but because they made me so mad, I was too angry to figure out my condition! Then she went back to drugging me until I broke down! But I didn't break down for good, and that's where she screwed up!" she cheered wildly.

"Yeah, stupid her," Jeff semi-cheered, too thrown off by the 'broke down' part to think of anything better.

"Well, now I'm a step ahead of her. Now we can expose her and take her down!" Annie celebrated.

"With what, exactly? My notes have everything but proof! And so does your brilliant theory!" Jeff nitpicked.

"Then we'll get proof ourselves," Annie vowed, thinking hard for a few seconds before lighting up. Even by Annie standards, she was working a mile a minute – and Jeff was skeptical about how good that was.

"I got it! You sneak in early tomorrow and hide out in the cafeteria kitchen, and film Annie Kim drugging my coffee. You'll get a small hidden camera from one of Abed's film friends, put it on your suit and get the whole thing on tape! But DON'T tell Abed! Don't tell any of them or they'll give it away!" Annie warned.

"So I just film her and then we turn her in, right?" Jeff concluded.

"No!" Annie shot him down. "Even with that, she'll still find a loophole to get out of it! She's an Annie; we do that."

"But the cafeteria workers know it's your special cup, they'll back you up." Jeff jumped ahead.

"She'll plead ignorance anyway! There's no actual proof she's been drugging that cup for two weeks! She can say she didn't know it was my coffee, or this was the first time she did this, or she wanted to drug someone else, like Britta! She'll probably get off with a warning for that." Annie feared. "No…we have to make sure there's no chance _at all _that she can worm out of this!"

Jeff wondered where she was going with this – then regretted it when she revealed, "I'll have to drink the coffee."

"Um, you clearly said that wrong," Jeff contained himself enough to say.

"No, I didn't, Jeff," Annie started. "You get Annie Kim on tape, you get me taking the coffee on tape, then I drink it, and then you get her looking happy about it on tape! Then we've got her!"

"And then you're on pills again! That's a big flaw in your master plan," Jeff commented. "She'll probably say you came up with this to keep taking Adderall, because you're too far gone. That's what_ she'll_ say," Jeff made sure to qualify.

"It's a risk, but it's worth it to crush her like she tried to crush me! Except she didn't do it, and she never will!" Annie was jumping around, lost in her emotions like she was an hour ago. Yet before she could hallucinate again, Jeff surprised them both by grabbing her by the shoulders and rubbing them.

Jeff's soothing touch – and the fact that Jeff could be so soothing – stunned him and Annie. However, he was on auto-pilot and was acting out of pure instinct – the kind he didn't think he had in him. Yet he powered through and tried to relax Annie by massaging her shoulders and back – and making sure she didn't see the worried look on his face.

"Annie, you've clearly had a long day. Let's get you to bed and get you some rest, okay?" Jeff asked, not bothering to acknowledge – or cover up – his choice of words. Annie was still stunned, but it did help make her emotional rollercoaster settle down. She followed him into his bedroom and before she knew it, Jeff had her climb into his bed and under his fancy sheets.

Annie hadn't really slept that well for a while, and certainly hadn't slept in a comfy bed like this before. This helped her ignore how Jeff was tucking her in, and brush aside whether that looked too childish or not. For Jeff's part, he just focused on making Annie as comfortable as possible.

Ultimately, Annie got still under the covers, and Jeff's pillows were fluffed enough for her. Before any awkwardness could set back in, Jeff patted her softly on the back – not the head – and even rubbed it a few more times before she closed her eyes.

By then, Jeff was coming out of autopilot and realizing what he was doing – and how un-Jeff like he was in doing it. Still, he was able to leave the room and close the door behind him before it set in – and before he was tempted to watch Annie sleep. To make sure she was sleeping well, of course.


	5. Act 2, Part 3

After a few minutes and several jumbled thoughts, Jeff felt ready enough to check his phone. It took him a second to remember he actually turned it off – an action so foreign to him that he naturally wouldn't remember right away.

Nevertheless, when he turned it on, he saw it was completely flooded with voicemails and texts. And without the patience to check them all, he just called Britta straight out.

"About time, Winger! Now that you're you again, do you mind telling us what Annie's doing?" Jeff heard Britta demand.

"Actually, you're gonna tell me what _you_ did first," Jeff said as his mood got darker. "Start with how you made Annie break down at your _stupid_ intervention, and go from there."

"What? Jeff, what did she tell you? _How _did she tell you? Did she think you were an evil brainwasher?" Britta asked in a bit of panic. But Jeff's emotions were too strong to take that in.

"If she did, it's because you went Dr. Drew on her, isn't it?" Jeff almost growled out. "You had no right to do that! And it made no difference anyway, because –"

"You want to make a difference _now?_ Too late, Jeff!" Britta announced. "You haven't helped us try to help Annie all week! And she's supposed to be your 'bestie,' if _nothing _else! We've been worried sick about her all this time because _we _love her, and we finally made her see that. We don't have to prove it to you too, especially since _you _weren't there for her today."

"And you proved it by making her break down _how_?" Jeff asked while he could still focus.

"Okay, so _maybe_ she thought we were an evil cult," Britta rushed through. "But she didn't think we were robots like in high school. And she didn't break any glass windows this time. Give us that much!"

"You expect me to…." Jeff couldn't finish, as he took in what Britta said at the end and tried not to take in the other parts too, but that wasn't working so well. When he finally settled his thoughts down, he took them out on Britta.

"You know what? You people have lost your Annie privileges. You don't come over here to see her, you don't call her, and you don't say _anything _to either of us tomorrow! At least not until after lunch. How's _that _for proof, doc?" Jeff said childishly before hanging up.

Once Jeff sat back down and thought like an adult, his thoughts turned to Annie. Or rather, his thoughts turned to all the stories he heard about her high school breakdown. A breakdown which apparently happened all over again today, while he was here, unable to do anything about it – and letting people who didn't believe in her care for her.

But at least those people did _something_ to keep her from full blown insanity this time. While he was in here writing. While she was reliving the worst day of her life, and he was doing _nothing _for her. Nothing real, anyway. Hell, she was fresh off an Adderall breakdown and she probably figured the whole plot out anyway – and what had Jeff done?

He was the only one to believe she wouldn't get hooked on pills again – but he did it in secret. He could have reassured her with words and comfort that someone was in her corner, but he had her spied on instead. He could have paid attention and stopped their misguided friends from making her feel worse, but he didn't, and it almost made her go insane for good.

It didn't, but it could have. Hell, she could easily be in a mental ward right now if anyone else had seen her meltdown. She could have been all alone, scared, betrayed and broken, and he wasn't there to show her that someone still believed in her.

Because he wasn't, she was almost gone forever. He – and everyone else, of course – could have lost her. Could still lose her.

For the briefest of seconds, Jeff didn't think he'd ever felt so much fear.

Jeff tried to settle down; tried to remind himself that she was still here. She was here, she probably figured out what was really happening, and she even had a plan to expose it. Albeit an insane plan where she willingly took Adderall at the end.

But the rest of it wasn't that bad. In fact, it was….kind of air tight. Assuming Jeff could really hide in the kitchen and get a small enough hidden camera. There were some good hiding places, and Abed's friends did have the weirdest cameras.

Plus he told Britta not to talk to him or Annie before lunch tomorrow. Since Jeff was _not _going to let them in on this plan and mess it up, it fit pretty well. The rest could fit into place too, with a few phone calls.

So Jeff spent the next hour calling his old spies, and asking them if they knew anyone from Abed's film crew. He obviously couldn't ask Abed, and it's not like he knew Abed's crew himself. Despite his unceremonious firing of her earlier that day, Gillian came through for Jeff and got him a number.

In any case, Jeff dialed the number and spent the next few hours negotiating to get a small hidden camera. After swearing Abed's friend to secrecy – and promising him a shard from Abed's broken Dark Knight DVD – he came over and gave Jeff what he wanted.

It was a pen with a hidden camera inside at the bottom – which was supposed to be for a groundbreaking film from the P.O.V. of a supervillain's pen. It was an immensely confusing little piece of equipment.

By the time he figured some of it out, Annie finally emerged from his bedroom.

Jeff had heard her shivering a few times in between phone calls, yet he resisted the urge to go in and lie beside her. Besides, she was probably detoxing a bit, so he made the excuse that it was best to let it run its course. Even though he'd left her alone already today, and because he did, he almost lost her for—

Jeff somehow shook that off and focused on the Annie that was here now. She still didn't quite look like the Annie he knew, but she looked calmer, rested and more presentable. She even spoke normally when she asked, "Hey. How long was I out?"

Jeff didn't even know that, so he was stunned to see that it was almost 10 p.m. already. Time flew by when you were sleeping off drug freak outs and taking out psycho Annies. When Annie giggled – which _almost _sounded like her usual, haunting giggles – Jeff realized he spoke that part out loud.

"So, about taking out psycho Annies…." Annie led into as she sat down next to Jeff on the couch. She didn't look as intense as the last time they talked about taking her out, so Jeff was able to calmly explain everything he'd been up to, and Annie listened with rapt attention and wonder.

After playing around with the pen, Annie helped Jeff work out how to use it and put it in his suit pocket just right. Even though she hadn't watched Abed work in two weeks, she remembered his pen movie ideas quite vividly. Once that was fine tuned, Annie looked quite impressed.

"I can't believe you made my ramblings a real plan," Annie praised.

"I can't believe you rambled well enough to give me a real plan. Given the circumstances," Jeff meant to make that look better than it sounded.

"I came up with all that after a mental breakdown. Think what I'd have done if I was clear headed," Annie reflected. "If I was, I would have figured this all out a lot sooner."

"That's why she drugged you, so you wouldn't. We'll take it out on Annie Kim tomorrow, don't worry," Jeff reassured.

"I can't lay this _all _on her," Annie reasoned. "I should have known what she was doing. Of _all _people, I should have known."

"How could you have known? How could anyone?" Jeff jabbed back.

"I could have, though. I could have if I wasn't so angry at them," Annie regretted. "All they did was worry about me, but I thought they lost respect for me. After all we've been through, I _never _should have doubted how much they care about me. But I did, and I ignored all the signs."

"If they had real faith in you, _they _should have known you'd never do that junk again. They didn't and _they _made it worse," Jeff was convinced.

"But they were right. I mean, if you're right, they were right. I _was _on Adderall. But I didn't take it on purpose like they thought, so _I _was right too," Annie realized. "But then we were both wrong too….God, this is messed up!"

"Well, we'll clean it up tomorrow, and we'll prove them all wrong," Jeff promised again.

"And then what? How do I face them again, Jeff?" Annie questioned. "Let's face it, I'm an addict again. It made me lash out at them, almost strangle Troy and think the worst about everyone! And they _still _tried to help me…..Hell, even _you _went above and beyond for me!"

Jeff felt offended that Annie would be shocked at how he'd go above and beyond for her. Then again, his reputation for going above and beyond for people was admittedly weak. Maybe that's what she was poking fun at, but he still felt a tinge of….regret, possibly.

"You guys did so much for me. What have I done to earn that kind of loyalty? Who am I to be that lucky….especially now?" Annie wondered.

There was so much Jeff could say to answer that – but almost all of it was stuff Jeff Winger would never say. Yet the more Annie kept silent, the more that didn't seem to matter.

However, Annie unknowingly let him off the hook by speaking again first. "I have to be worthy enough to have friends like you again. And I can't do that until I face these demons once and for all. Clearly, going through rehab alone didn't do it….so I have to do this."

Unfortunately, Jeff had an idea of what 'this' really was. "You don't have to drink that coffee tomorrow. The rest of the plan is solid. All we need to show the cops is the video, the cup of tainted coffee, and a few of my ex-lawyer tricks. We can nail her _without_ you getting high again," Jeff stated.

"You don't know Annie Kim, Jeff. If we leave her even _one _window of opportunity, she'll take it and get off scot free. I know she'll find it if I don't drink it on camera, and we don't catch her letting it happen," Annie declared.

"We don't even know if she'll be watching! She's not that much of a cartoon super villain yet!" Jeff announced. "What if you drink it and she's not there? Then what's the point of doing this?"

Before Jeff knew it, his emotions got away from him and he asked, "What if she stays clear because she put enough in there to kill you this time?!"

He barely hid the grimace on his face after he realized what he said, and Annie probably saw it anyway. For whatever reason, she began to look fearful, which might have been a good sign for Jeff's argument.

"She isn't merciful enough to kill me, Jeff," Annie finally excused, deflating Jeff instantly. But she went on undeterred.

"Anyway, it won't change anything. If I don't take it, I'll start going through withdrawal symptoms, and I'll have to go to the hospital. If I do, I'll go nuts and have to go to the hospital. Either way, you'll take me to the hospital before it gets too bad, and I'll get better. That's not so terrible, right?" Annie proposed.

There were a hundred ways it could go bad. Yet some of what Annie said sounded logical on paper. If Jeff pointed out the illogical stuff, it could start an argument – and then who knows how things would turn out? If any of this was going to work, they needed to be on solid ground together. And Jeff couldn't leave her on her own again, for any reason.

Yet he also couldn't let her think for a second that he approved of this. So he said, "Withdrawal sounds a hell of a lot better than a bad trip," in a slightly dark tone.

Annie sighed deeply, and Jeff could see the wheels turning in her head as she searched for a way out of this conversation.

"Maybe..." Annie commented, then checked her watch. "Jeff? Could we watch some TV now?" she questioned abruptly. "I just….I'm clearly not going home tonight, and I haven't watched TV with anyone in days, so…."

The one time Jeff wanted to talk about something serious, _Annie_ changes the subject. But there was clearly no changing her mind, and if the worst was still to come, they should have a little quiet time first. To that end, Jeff started flipping through channels – before Annie took the remote and stayed on channels for longer than two seconds.

After they settled on something, Annie sat next to Jeff in silence. He looked at her from the corner of his eye every so often, which he was especially good at now. She seemed to inch closer over time, but she didn't seem set on full on cuddling. Yet before Jeff could stop himself – or even think to try – he put his arm around her to bring her close.

Normally, Jeff did this move to start setting things up for sex. But there was nothing sexual about this. That was startling, since he always figured he'd be a bundle of nerves if this ever happened with Annie – for a number of reasons. However, he knew this wasn't the time or place for those kind of thoughts – and he actually wasn't having them.

He just brought Annie close to him for the….sake of her being closer to him. Because he knew she needed human contact, and he wanted to give it to her.

Annie was the kind of person who needed to share her life with others. She needed companionship and comfort, and to know she wouldn't be alone in her times of need. Jeff never needed that or wanted it for….most of his life.

But going without all that for the first 16 years of her life made Annie turn to pills the first time. And her fear of others losing respect for her helped make things worse this time. Now for the first time in weeks, she was with someone she knew respected the hell out of her, even at her worst – or at least Jeff hoped she knew that.

In that case, if snuggling would help her see that, especially now, it was a price Jeff was willing to pay. And as he felt Annie warm up and calm down, it began to feel like a really good bargain. Even with sex off the table, it was just nice to have her here. To have her close and to share in the company of the real, normal Annie Edison again.

Especially if it might never happen again after tomorrow.

For the second time, the thought of Annie going permanently nuts struck Jeff with terror. It took a little longer to realize he was being ridiculous this time. Besides, everything was planned out perfectly, except for the end. Then again, when did anything Jeff wanted ever go right?

Those thoughts stayed close in Jeff's mind as he and Annie watched TV in silence. After about an hour, Annie realized she had to go back to sleep, and helped Jeff get blankets and pillows for himself on the couch.

But Jeff was largely back on autopilot, deep in his weird, unnatural thoughts – and by the time Annie was ready to say good night and leave him, he voiced one of those errant thoughts. Because he thought he might never get another chance to say it to her.

"Annie. You know how much I care about you, right?"

To his surprise, Annie followed up with, "Jeff, I've had a mostly terrible day. Tomorrow could be even worse. I think we might be so afraid about it….we might say things we don't really mean before then. Things we wouldn't say if we didn't think tomorrow might be….the end of something. If that's the reason, then it doesn't really count. And if it does…."

Annie lost her nerve for a bit, but recovered to finish, "It's not a good time for it to count. So….I know how ironic this is, coming from me. But is this something we could...put aside right now?"

Jeff knew it made sense. If he was thinking these things just because Annie might disappear tomorrow, they shouldn't count. It didn't mean anything in the long term, and he would never think these things under normal circumstances. He shouldn't think them, anyway.

But if he had thought that way about Annie before all this started, what then?

And just like that, Jeff's already crumbling wall of denial was shattered.

Now that he'd admitted to himself that he _had _thought those things before, even he couldn't brush it aside. And all of a sudden, it all flooded his brain in a long overdue tidal wave.

How Annie was the strongest, bravest woman he'd ever known – especially after today. How he knew Annie wouldn't have let herself take pills because she was so strong and powerful – because Jeff knew her well enough to know how strong and powerful she was. Because he knew this woman better than anyone else he'd ever met – and that's why it was so impossible to shake her influence away.

And then it _really _flooded him how close he came to losing her. How close he still was. How she might lose herself before she knew just how valuable she really was to him. How losing her like that would crush him.

How losing her for _any _reason – no matter whose fault it was, how long it took to happen, or how much happiness they had beforehand – would all but destroy him.

After all, Jeff was almost destroyed when he lost a dad and his law career. What would it do to him if he lost something that was actually _worth _having?

At that wild thought, Jeff knew he was going way too far. Once he snapped out of it, he realized he'd thought all this in just a few seconds of real time – and Annie was still looking for an answer.

"Sure, of course," Jeff said out loud before his inner voice could object. He sat back down as he began to put his broken walls of denial together again. If Annie could see inside that construction, she didn't comment. In fact, she seemed set to go to bed then and there.

But the walls weren't up yet. Which meant Jeff could tell her _something_.

"Annie, hold on," Jeff asked. When she did, he said the first thing he thought of, without any thought behind it at all. "It's gonna be okay. I would rather get cuts on my abs, or gain 15 pounds, than let Annie Kim or _anyone else_ hurt you tomorrow. Or ever. I promise."

Before Jeff could start to over think what he said, or take some of it back, Annie disarmed him with that sweet, small smile he missed so much. Yet before he got totally lost in it, she said, "So…..you've been a fanatic about your weight for years, but you're gonna gain 15 pounds in one day?"

So she was going the teasing route. Part of Jeff felt a little disappointed, but the rest was still in control. "What can I say? When I do something, I do it better than anyone, you know that," he bragged.

"You do. You really do," Annie conceded. "I'm really lucky to know that."

Jeff usually smirked his typical cocky smile when someone praised him. But having his ego boosted like that by Annie made him feel….warmer. It made his smile feel warmer as well.

Yet that was nothing compared to how he felt when Annie opened his bedroom door, smiled, and said, "Goodnight, Jeff."

She made it sound like something out of some buried, deep in subconscious dream sequence. Or part of a fantasy from an….ideal future.

After Annie shut the door, it took a few minutes for Jeff to snap out of it. It was just because he might not see her healthy again after tomorrow. That was all it was. That's why it didn't count for real.

Yet the lumpy couch wasn't the only reason he could barely sleep, for once in his life.


	6. Act 3, Part 1

Jeff did get to sleep eventually. But he didn't enjoy it for long, once he felt something tapping on his forehead. He woke up to see Annie standing over him, her hand curled into a fist above his forehead – as if she was knocking on it to get him up.

"Good morning, Jeff," she said in that same fantasy like quality as her "goodnight." She actually looked somewhat bright and sunny again – of course she was a morning person, even now. It still barely felt like the morning, though.

And that's because it wasn't even 6 a.m., according to Jeff's cell phone. "Annie, I could excuse a lot from you today. But this is kind of pushing it," Jeff warned.

"I always get up early, you know that," Annie assumed. "Besides, it's a longer drive to Greendale from here. And we need time to go over the plan again before we leave." After a pause, she added, "And I don't know if you let other people touch your cereal."

"Ah. Well, they've never had the chance, so…go nuts," Jeff conceded, as he began to try and get up. By the time he did and got his back straightened out, Annie was already making two bowls of cereal.

In between their chewing, Jeff and Annie went over each part of their plan one last time. Jeff knew he should have tried one last time to talk Annie out of the ending, but he couldn't bring himself to. She wouldn't back down, she was convinced she could handle it – and he didn't want to interrupt this peaceful morning.

In a few hours, things would get far more chaotic. And if they went the way Jeff feared, he needed to savor this while he could. This last moment of peace and content conversation with Annie…the kind he didn't get enough of before now. But he never had it like this before. Not with Annie and not with…

"I've never done this before," Jeff realized. Before Annie could ask him to clarify, he added, "I've never had breakfast with a woman."

He could see Annie trying not to blush, and barely succeeding. Yet this seemed to be another Jeff thing she wasn't able or willing to discuss, so Jeff didn't follow up. Instead, he thought to himself how this was uncharted territory. Having a woman stick around the 'morning after' was unheard of for him, even in relationships – and they hadn't even had sex the night before.

Yet despite all that, Jeff didn't hate this.

Annie's smiling face was the first thing he saw today. She was the first person he talked to today, and she was putting on a brave face before the trials to come. All of that put Jeff at ease for some reason. It even made him wish he could start more days like this.

But this was all out of his irrational fear that she'd overdose or something. That didn't make it real. Yet even Jeff couldn't ignore how he had to force himself to believe that this time.

Whatever he believed, it couldn't matter now. Not with school approaching and so much at stake today. Once they finished their cereal, Jeff put his new pen camera in his suit pocket, took Annie to his Lexus and drove her to Greendale. But he didn't leave the car right after they parked.

He almost always wished he didn't have to get out of his car and go to school, but this time, the feeling felt different. More desperate, maybe.

However, it seemed to fizz away when Annie put her hand on top of his.

He was supposed to make her feel better about facing today, not the other way around, and yet she seemed perfectly okay. She only looked worried about Jeff not being okay – and if he wasn't okay, then he knew she wouldn't be okay.

Annie needed him to be okay. She needed Jeff to do his job and do _something _for her, for once. So he would follow her lead, if that's what it took.

But despite that, he still couldn't let all of this happen without one final warning. Still, Jeff knew he would have to ease his way into it.

"Okay, let's review one last time. I'll go to the cafeteria and catch Annie Kim on tape. Then I'll meet up with you, we brave the study room, then you go pick up your coffee like usual. Then you come into history class and I'll film you with the coffee," Jeff stated as he patted his pen.

Then he got to the most important part and asked, "Please don't make me film anything else." That gave Jeff the strength to get out of the car, if only to avoid a last-minute argument.

After that, it was a matter of finding a good hiding place in the cafeteria. Then he had to wait around long enough to film someone making Annie's coffee, and hopefully catch Annie Kim drugging it moments later. If Annie Kim could drug coffee for two weeks without getting noticed, surely Jeff could be that sneaky too.

Annie just had to be sneaky enough to go into Greendale, hide and make sure no one spotted her yet. Fortunately, not many people got here this early in the morning. However, Annie knew that Annie Kim had to be skulking around the building early enough to drug the coffee, which was why she and Jeff had to be here so soon.

Hopefully, Annie Kim would do the deed early enough that Jeff would come back quickly, and they could get to the study room on time. Then after they braved through the study group's questions, Annie would pick up the coffee on time, go right to class, and Jeff would film her holding it.

After that, it was just a matter of drinking it on tape to finish the job. Regardless of the side effects. And regardless of certain last-minute requests. Before Annie dwelled on that further, Jeff found her in the halls.

He didn't say anything or look any different – perhaps he was trying to be inconspicuous in case he was being watched. He did nod once he got to her, so maybe that was a signal of success. But he didn't do anything else as they walked to the study room – and that included telling her how the hell he found a good enough hiding place to catch Annie Kim doing anything with that pen camera.

Perhaps some things were too outlandish and unlikely to explain further. In any case, it was more important to make sure they didn't explain anything to the group. At least not until the plan was finished, one way or the other.

They made good time in getting to the study room, as everyone else was already there as expected. Before Jeff even looked at the others, he came in and ordered, "Not one word."

"Jeff, this is no time to –" Britta barely started.

"Britta, compare me to any sexist you want, I don't care. After that, you're not saying a word about Annie, or _to _Annie. None of you are." To drive it home, he added, "You've all said a _lot _of embarrassing things in front of me when you _thought _I wasn't paying attention. I might just 'remember' some of those things out loud in public if you screw with me today. Got it?"

Troy audibly gasped in fear, which gave Jeff a special satisfaction. After all, it was his fault that everyone thought Annie was on Adderall.

And he was the one who fought hardest of all to save her, because he didn't care enough to do it last time. Both those facts made Jeff uneasy, but this little win would help with that.

The threat worked to keep Troy and the others from saying a word to Annie, or from talking about Annie or her meltdown the day before. When it was time to go, Jeff took a brief but obviously meaningful look at Annie before he let her go to the cafeteria alone, as planned.

Since Jeff scared the others off, none of them bothered Annie as she went to the cafeteria and picked up her coffee, like it was a normal day. But the noticeable uptick in her heart rate when she left the cafeteria wasn't normal.

In the back of her mind, she now knew that part of it was because of her renewed craving for Adderall. It made her hate Annie Kim all the more.

At the very least, that need would be satisfied one last time, if nothing else.

She got into history class with minutes to spare, making sure not to look and see if Annie Kim had arrived. She focused on Jeff instead, holding up her coffee so that he could film it with the pen. But she avoided his gaze after that, even as she sat next to him and then examined her tainted coffee.

The more Annie looked at it, the more she thought Jeff was wrong to worry about this. After two weeks of taking Adderall without knowing it, taking it once more wouldn't kill her. Annie Kim probably wanted her alive and ruined, so she wouldn't risk overdosing her.

She'd just try to make her freak out – and Annie had already done that, so she was in the clear. And if she wasn't, she'd just go to the hospital today anyway. Hopefully after Annie Kim was ruined herself.

After what she did, it was worth taking Adderall on purpose to prove her guilt. It was all worth it.

And yet while this made her look calm enough on the outside, she was trying desperately not to come apart on the inside.

This made her even more vulnerable to the negative, drug addled voices in her brain. They told her to shut up and drink the coffee, like she knew she wanted to do. She wanted to do it because it was part of taking down Annie Kim – but those voices told her it was worth it even if she didn't. That it was what she wanted no matter what.

Even if it wasn't, they told her there was no way she could beat Annie Kim without taking Adderall. There was no way she could do _anything _without it now – or so they said as Annie picked up her tainted coffee.

They sang that same song five years ago, and they were right back then. Annie could get good grades, stay on track for the Ivy league, and ignore her lack of a social or family life with Adderall. But she couldn't deal with anything without it – and that's why she lost her academic future and her family when she got clean.

That's why she had to start over at Greendale. That's why she met the study group.

That's why she found a new home with people who cared about her, for the first time ever. That's why she grew to love school for reasons other than grades, for the first time ever.

That's why she knew people who would go to the ends of the earth for her when she was in trouble, for the first time ever.

That's why someone who didn't know she existed five years ago was obsessed with helping her now. That's why someone who hated celebrity rehab shows made himself watch them all, if there was even a chance they could help him help her. That's why her fanatical Christian friend chose to turn the other cheek to her drug abuse, just so she could help Annie get well. That's why a perennial screw-up didn't mind – out loud – that her boyfriend was so set on helping another woman get well. That's why an older perennial screw-up was on his best behavior now.

That's why someone who'd tried so hard not to care for others cared _so much _for her while she wasn't looking.

Annie was so convinced that they had all stopped loving her, but instead, she was s_o_ loved – more than she'd ever dreamed possible. And she didn't get any of that because of Adderall.

She didn't need it to rebuild her academic future. She didn't need it to finally figure out what she wanted to do with her life. She didn't need it to learn how to be a great student _and _to have fun. She didn't need it to learn how to be a true friend and a truly selfless person.

She didn't need Adderall for _anything _that made her life great_. _So why would she need it now?

She needed to take it so she could prove Annie Kim was guilty. Even if Jeff did get her on tape drugging her coffee, she could still find a loophole. Annie couldn't possibly take her down unless she closed every loophole imaginable.

Just like she thought she couldn't possibly become a better, more loved person without Adderall or an Ivy League education. And look what happened.

Annie got all that on her own merit, by being better and sober. And if she willingly went off the wagon now, it would be a slap in the face to her and to those who loved her.

Hell, this was the second time her brain brought her back from the brink while she was under the influence. Her brain wasn't strong enough to do that _once_ in high school! If it was that strong now, it could use the evidence she already had – hopefully – to prove Annie Kim was guilty.

And if she didn't, she didn't have to do the rest alone.

She thought she'd have to be alone all her life – that's why she turned to pills in the first place. But why would she need them now? Why would she need pills when her own brain, her own conscience and her own amazing family could do so much more?

How could she be so stupid enough to ever think she did? Especially in these last 12 hours?

Annie needed to end this the right way, so she could make things right with her loved ones. She needed to be clean and sober enough to reward Jeff's faith in her. And she couldn't do all that if she let herself take one more pill.

As such, she put the cup of coffee down and opened her textbook to start preparing for the day's lesson.

She barely heard a deep breath next to her, which probably belonged to Jeff. But Annie had to think more about Annie Kim's reaction right now. From her corner in the front of the classroom, she was probably stunned, but she couldn't give herself away. But when she figured out Annie was on to her, she'd likely come up with a backup plan.

Annie could stop that much, at least. The professor was running late, so there might still be time to question Annie Kim now, and get the truth out of her even without all her video evidence. She had told herself it was impossible and that Annie Kim would just find a way out of it, but nothing was impossible for Annie anymore.

Fueled by that extra confidence, Annie grabbed the coffee cup again. Even if Annie Kim didn't confess, Annie could leave and take that cup to the police as extra evidence. It was so simple that she really had to be too strung out on Adderall not to figure it out last night.

She'd technically have to cut class, but she'd fully make up the work she missed once she got well and Annie Kim was expelled. She then began to get up, barely hearing a deep breath being sucked in next to her.

Yet she certainly heard – and saw – Jeff slapping the coffee out of her hand a second later.

The cup and everything in it landed onto the floor – or on the students sitting in front of them. So much for extra evidence.

Annie turned to Jeff, who had a wide eyed, panicked look on her face that he could barely hide. The words, "What the hell?!" ran through Annie's mind at that moment.

But then she heard the words "What the hell?!" out loud, in a voice that didn't belong to her.

It belonged to Annie Kim, who realized two seconds too late what she'd said out loud. The other Annie stared, eyes wide for a moment before bolting from the classroom, much to the surprise and confusion of her classmates.

And before Annie could fully take in the meltdown, Jeff sprang to his feet and ran out, following the retreating woman as she disappeared out the door.


	7. Act 3, Part 2

The group was too stunned by Jeff, Annie and Annie Kim to ask Annie what just happened. Besides, if they talked to her, she might blab to Jeff and he'd give away their most embarrassing secrets. But he might be stuck in jail for killing Annie Kim for some reason, so who'd believe him them?

Yet Annie sprung to her feet before they could decide it was worth the risk.

She ran out of the classroom in Jeff and Annie Kim's direction, and didn't go far until she saw Jeff trapping Annie Kim against some lockers. Apparently his super long legs were good runners after all – – or at least they were when Jeff was actually motivated enough to run somewhere.

But perhaps Jeff was too motivated in interrogating Annie Kim. "Go on, smile for the camera! Just like when you drugged Annie's coffee!" he attacked, holding the pen up to her face.

"You've finally snapped, Winger!" Annie Kim argued, surprisingly composed under the circumstances, and her recent outburst. Running away from Jeff must have given her enough time to plan her defense. Of course it did.

"Your crazy denial about Annie, and your crazy emotions about leaving Greendale, made you snap! I don't know how they made you do this, but we all knew something like this was coming!" Annie Kim proposed.

"So they knew I'd film you putting ground up Adderall in Annie's special coffee? Like you have for two straight weeks?" Jeff qualified.

"On the off chance it's me and not an impersonator, what other 'proof' do you have?"Annie Kim retorted. "You destroyed all the 'evidence' back in the classroom. And if me or my copy put anything 'ground up' in there, how do you know it was Adderall? And do you have _two straight weeks _of me doing this on tape? You see how your logic eats itself, right?" she bragged.

This was what Annie got for not drinking that coffee when she had the chance. The one time she didn't do things her way – the right way – this happened!

Wait. That was rather presumptuous of her. And that meant….

Annie knew herself well enough to know her own ego. If she had one, Annie Kim would too – and it might be just unstable enough when threatened. To bring it out, it was time to use the old lawyers playbook.

"That's enough, Jeff!" Annie spoke up, settling into the 'good cop' role. "She's right, there's no real evidence she did anything. Besides, it's not like she could have done it anyway."

"Annie, what are you –" Jeff started wildly.

"Jeff, I still have the floor!" Annie pointed out. Her forcefulness and tone forced Jeff into submission, as he backed away from Annie Kim and let Annie question the witness.

"I had it all wrong. You couldn't have drugged me because you're not ruthless enough," Annie started. "You're not brilliant enough, either. There is someone that destructive, perfect and genius enough to destroy me. But it isn't you."

"It isn't?" Annie Kim asked, albeit not as steady as she probably wanted. So far, so good.

"Nope. Only one person is that perfect. And I'm sorry I didn't see it earlier, Jeff," Annie apologized. "You were right all along. The only one who could be that smart and evil is Rich."

"Ha, told you!" Jeff said out of instinct, before he actually thought about it. "Wait, hold on."

"No, I won't, Jeff! We persecuted Annie Kim, when it was really Rich! She deserves to hear that she couldn't match up to him!" Annie kept dangling the bait. "I mean, where else could she have gotten the pills? Who else wouldn't be suspected by _anyone_? And he rejected me for being too young! We all know that can make someone pretty twisted!"

Annie wasn't trying to make a meta commentary/accusation about Jeff. But she'd clear that up with him when she finished working on Annie Kim.

She continued with, "He wanted me and was ashamed of it, so he tried to destroy me. And he knew it'd destroy Jeff as an added bit of revenge! He had the motive, access, and brains that no one else could have had! The fact we thought Annie Kim was _remotely _capable of that was so….stupid!"

"That moron thought I needed two bottles of Adderall for a _study buddy_! Does that sound like brains to you?!" Annie Kim snapped.

And for the second time in the last five minutes, she realized she said too much, too late.

"Ha, I knew that moron was involved! Wait, hold on," Jeff broke free from his Rich hatred again.

"Wait a minute, I didn't mean it like that! I didn't mean anything at all!" Annie Kim tried to explain, but neither Jeff, Annie – nor their friends that had arrived right on time – were buying it. "This isn't possible…." she insisted.

"Why? Because you drugged me with Adderall for two weeks, and I _still _outsmarted you? And Jeff did too?" Annie drove home.

"Oh, the evil doppelganger framed her! Not as daring a twist, but much less desperate than Annie willingly on drugs again. We might still have stability in this saga after all," Abed exclaimed.

"I don't believe this…." Troy declared, as the others were in disbelief too.

"And yet you _did _believe Annie would want to take pills again. That's why you guys suck," Jeff recovered enough to blame.

"Jeff, they _were _half right," Annie defended, then focused back on Annie Kim. "As for that other half…."

"It's not fair….it's just not fair," Annie Kim was reduced to muttering.

"Oh, we know that. But tell us a crazier reason why, crazy," Jeff taunted bitterly.

"_I'm _crazy? _She's _crazy!" Annie Kim spat at Annie. "She's the psycho pill head! She was one long before I did anything! She wouldn't have been _that _psycho this week if she wasn't already psycho! And yet_ she_ has everything!"

"Yes, she does! Because _she's _earned it!" Shirley voiced.

"No! She's a whiny brat who can't let anyone else have _anything!" _Annie Kim accused, then zeroed her rage back on Annie herself. "Oh, don't look so shocked! You use your Disney eyes, your boobs, your whining and your power over old people to get your way! You lie, deceive, rip people off and give Annie's everywhere a bad name!"

"_I _give them a bad name?" Annie objected.

"Well, I've never been on pills!" Annie Kim pointed out. "I never broke down like a child! I never tried to make my friends fail classes because I'm an insecure, friendless loser! _I _did everything the right way!" she insisted as she got more emotional.

"I never acted out! I never needed pills! I never had to change majors like a quitter! I never tried to be something I wasn't! But _you_…..you're such a mess, and you're_ still _popular!" Annie Kim mourned. "You have friends who worship you and love you! You do rotten things and they just keep on loving you! You're certifiably insane, and you still beat me in everything!" she yelled as the tears started to come down.

"I did everything right and _you _have everything I _never _had! I do just _one _rotten thing to get back at you, but they'll ruin _my_ life and let_ you_ keep getting off scot free! How is that fair? You don't deserve it….so why you and not me? What about me?" Annie Kim finally finished before she full on sobbed.

"What _about _you, drama queen? My apologies to the gay community for –" Britta couldn't finish.

"Britta, not now!" Annie stunned her and the others by not letting that slam stand. Instead, she went over to a sobbing Annie Kim, as if she looked sympathetic for her.

When Annie Kim could look at her again, Annie said, "I wish I didn't know exactly how you feel. But I kind of do. Envying cool, messed up high school students for years can do that. So much that you turn to pills to forget how inferior you feel."

Remembering those times always made Annie sad, even these days. But this was particularly intense – especially with everything that just happened, the oddness of feeling sorry for Annie Kim, and the knowledge that her Adderall cravings weren't gone yet.

Since she missed her now daily intake, her withdrawal symptoms could start at any time. She already felt herself getting antsy, even after she refused to drink that coffee. If Annie was going to settle this, she had to do it now.

"I'm sorry for what you've been going through," Annie told her doppelganger. "I'm sorry for how you feel about yourself. But there is a _big_ difference between us. I lashed out and hurt myself back then. _You _lashed out and hurt innocent people."

"You're not innocent. You would have done the same thing I did with a little push," Annie Kim felt certain.

"You think I don't know that? I _know _how bad I can be! How bad I _have _been sometimes!" Annie admitted. "But that's not who I want to be. I want to be the best, and not just the best student anymore. I want to be the best the _right _way, and I want it for the right reasons."

"What does it matter? I'm living proof that it doesn't work. Who really cares _how _you're the best?" Annie Kim resigned herself.

"I do! It means so much to me, no matter what you think," Annie corrected. "I made countless mistakes before I even started to get it right. But it's still worth it to me. It's worth it to be someone who can save herself, and never stop trying to be better. It's worth it to be more than a good grade in a tight sweater. It's worth it to have friends who'll save her when she can't do it herself. Like Jeff does….like everyone else does. And it's worth it _so much_ to be someone _worth_ saving!"

Jeff almost didn't hear that last part. He was too stunned that Annie, or anyone else, could speak of him in that way. And Annie struggled to fully hear herself because she was trying to keep herself stable. But they each powered through to keep moving along.

"I want all of that so much, I'll never stop fighting for it. Or fighting to do it right. But that's clearly not what you want," Annie directed at Annie Kim.

"So I don't want it enough, huh? What a convenient excuse! You arrogant, elitist bitch," Annie Kim spit out. While Jeff and the others grit their teeth or worse, Annie just stayed level.

"You don't get it. You really don't," Annie simply said. "The point is I won't take _shortcuts _to get that stuff! I'll do anything for it, and I'll do anything to make sure I don't do….well, _anything _for it. But you took the easy way out. You chose to hurt people, and hurt their friends, instead of working for what you really wanted."

"What good would that have done me?!" Annie Kim growled.

As Annie's righteous fury bubbled over, she finished, "I could have felt sorry for you about the other stuff. But taking the easy way out like you did – I'm sorry, but I'm not that kind of Annie. And I hope to God I never will be."

Annie didn't feel like wasting another word on Annie Kim. She turned away from her and looked at the other group members, who all wore the same slack-jawed expression – even Abed. "Well, now I don't know how our finale could have a bigger 'drop the mic' moment, in Twittersphere terms," Abed declared.

Yet Annie focused on Jeff instead, bringing herself to start, "Okay, Jeff. I'm ready to go to – "

Jeff knew what she would say. But no one else would, because she didn't finish her request.

Because Annie Kim came from nowhere to interrupt her, pin her to the wall, and take out a half-full bottle of Adderall pills.

"Be whatever Annie you want in Hell!" she screamed, before holding Annie's mouth open and pouring all the pills she could into it. She even moved Annie's throat up and down so she would swallow them all.

"Let go of her!" Jeff and Troy yelled behind them. Yet Annie Kim kept a hand on Annie's throat and another hand full of pills in her mouth, as they tried to push her away. But her grip was just way too strong, thanks to her insane fury.

Annie didn't know how many pills she'd swallowed, if any. But it wasn't enough to ruin her critical thinking just yet. Because of that, she could take in how Annie Kim's fingers were in her mouth – and bite down on one of them as hard as possible.

Once Annie Kim flinched and removed her hand, Annie used all her old karate training to strike her in the face. It knocked her backwards, and knocked Jeff and Troy back a bit as well since they were too close. But Annie got past them, reached a staggering Annie Kim, and gave her another quick left and right to knock her down for good.

Once Annie Kim went down, Britta, Shirley and Pierce grabbed her so she couldn't get up and away. But Annie also went down as well, and not because her hands hurt.

She felt at least one pill go down her throat after Annie Kim released her grip. Combined with any other pills that she forced down, she wasn't feeling good. She spat out the other pills in her mouth, yet the ones that got in – combined with her unwell, unchecked condition over the last two weeks in general – were not sitting well.

But as Jeff knelt down next to her, Annie still managed to modify her last statement. "Like I said...I need to go to the hospital, Jeff. _Now._"


	8. Act 3, Part 3

**The biggest of thanks go out to Hypnotoad76 for the original idea, to crittab for saving me from screwing it up too bad, and to the readers and reviewers – all of them.**

Annie didn't hallucinate or pass out on the way to the hospital; thank God for small favors.

Jeff drove her in his Lexus, while Troy, Abed and Britta squeezed into the backseat to soothe her. Much to her relief, Troy didn't make any ambulance siren noises, Abed didn't use any ER gibberish, and Shirley backed down without a fight when she lost a "rock, paper scissors" game to Britta and had to ride with Pierce.

In any case, they checked Annie into the hospital and then began the longest waiting game of their lives.

Not all of it was spent waiting for Annie, however. The police interviewed them to confirm what happened, and Jeff handed over the pen camera to help seal Annie Kim's fate. But re-telling everything that happened, reliving how he knocked away the coffee – and why he was frightened enough to do it – did a number on Jeff.

Troy, Abed and Britta, sensing his distress, opted to distract him for a few moments, much to his relief and annoyance. Despite the irritation of Britta's "director's cut" of her most infamous rants, their efforts did help Jeff get his mind off Annie for a little while, if nothing else.

But unbeknownst to Jeff, their efforts were not only a distraction from the situation with Annie. They were also a distraction from the guilt-ridden Rich, who had entered the waiting room not long after they did. Technically, he was responsible for giving Annie Kim those pills, but he just seemed so sad, and he was so lovable that they just couldn't let Jeff kill him. Of course Rich understood, because he was sickeningly good like that; he left long before Britta ran out of material.

Rich's departure turned out to be well timed, as Annie's doctors chose that minute to reappear and give the group the news.

Annie would be fine. They'd pumped her stomach as a precautionary measure, but Annie Kim had only succeeded in forcing a few new pills down there, leaving Annie's mind relatively stable.

The next few hours went by in a blur for Jeff. But it wasn't like he was just moping and waiting around. Shirley let it slip that she got a text from Rich, then Jeff asked out loud if he could call the cops back over for another statement, get Rich shot in friendly fire, and get a vacation in the mental ward.

Then the group remembered to ask him what the hell he and Annie had been doing since yesterday. Jeff responded by lecturing them for not believing Annie, and then they got kicked out of the waiting room at least twice before finally shutting up.

But for all the arguing, Jeff couldn't remember any of it by the end. Annie was still too fresh on his mind, even though he knew she was alive and healthy. It was almost like his brain, or some other organ, wouldn't be satisfied until she was here and in his –

In his orbit. That was all.

But even Jeff knew that was a new low for his denial. As if slapping away drugged coffee and barely having it work out could be topped.

"Jeff?"

However, seeing Annie walk towards them, and pretending he didn't almost leap up and hug her on the spot, might have come close.

Still, Jeff managed to get up with a bit more dignity than that. He waited until Shirley and Britta hugged Annie before hugging her, then made sure to note that she spent less time hugging Troy, Abed and Pierce. But before he got too caught up in that, he remembered there was something he had to remind the others to do.

"Annie, I've filled the others in on our investigation. And now that all the facts are out, I believe they have some words for you. Right?" Jeff asked without leaving any wiggle room.

The others looked appropriately guilty, even without Jeff's glares, as Shirley spoke for them first. "Annie, we realized that maybe we….assumed the wrong things about you."

"Not that it was our fault! But maybe we made things too easy for that psycho Annie, I guess," Britta added awkwardly.

"In TV we'd be instantly forgiven, so that the status quo would return to normal next week. Unless we were in a February sweeps arc. But if you wanted to prove we're not on TV by not forgiving us…..we'd completely understand. You deserve to be angry at us for a few sweeps periods," Abed admitted.

"It'll be the hardest thing I've ever done to cut my pill stories to a PG-version! But I'll do it to help you get better, and that's how sorry I am!" Pierce promised.

"Aw, Pierce…." Annie complemented, which made Jeff both relieved and upset that she was still so forgiving. But there was one more piece of the sorry puzzle left.

"Troy? You roped them all into this crusade in the first place. Care to end it now?" Jeff insisted.

Troy stepped forward with a sad look on his face. But it wasn't his cartoony sad face before a bout of cartoony crying.

"Annie, this is my fault. They wouldn't have thought you were riding the Adderall monkey if I didn't think it first," Troy confessed. "This is what thinking does when it's in the wrong brain!"

"Troy, your brain wasn't all wrong. None of your brains were," Annie acknowledged.

"But you didn't take it on purpose, and I should have known that!" Troy pressed. "You kept saying you weren't who you were in high school anymore. The funny thing is, I went so nuts because I didn't want to be who _I_ was either. I didn't want to be that guy who ignored you and didn't help you when you were in trouble. Not again."

"You couldn't have helped me then because you didn't know me," Annie remembered. "And as much as I obsessed over you, I didn't know you either."

"But I know you now, so there's no excuse," Troy answered back. "I mean, you're my roommate. And you're my best friend, too. At least my best friend who's not also my soul mate." Both Abed and Britta lit up a little bit from that, then looked somewhat uncertain.

But for once, Troy didn't notice either of them as he finished up with Annie. "I didn't want you to be all alone _and _on drugs this time. You shouldn't be any of those things, anyway. I just tried to prove it all wrong, that's all."

"Troy, you haven't been 'that guy' for a long time. I knew that long before all of this," Annie smiled.

"Well, I'm never gonna think you could be that girl in high school again, just in case. Like we should have done and we're all gonna do from now on. You're that important to us," Troy promised.

Annie didn't say anything, but she said enough when she went over to hug Troy. The rest of the group added exclamation points by making it a group hug, But Jeff went to the back in case he looked too uneasy, since Troy was the one who said those words to Annie instead of….other people.

After they broke apart, Jeff stayed quiet as he watched Annie fill in the rest of what happened, how she'd need to rest in bed for the weekend, and how she'd be starting group therapy after school every day. This meant she'd have to cut down her school work for her final semester as a result.

She didn't seem too upset about that – and something else about her looked off to Jeff as well.

As such, when they finally had to leave the hospital, Jeff volunteered to drive Annie home. Her car had been parked in Greendale since Thursday morning, and the group wasn't up to challenging Jeff again just yet. After exchanging a few more hugs with the gang, Annie went back into the Lexus to start her trip home.

Halfway through the ride, Jeff couldn't ignore how Annie hadn't said a word. He broke the silence and the ice with a bit of bragging, to fall back on comfortable stand bys. "Well, at least I shamed them into a _good _apology. You'd think your awesome Annie Kim slam down would have been enough, but I had to finish the job. So you weren't the only one who had a kickass day. Results wise, anyway."

After a few final seconds of silence, Annie answered, "They didn't have to apologize."

"They didn't have to believe you'd take pills by yourself, but they did that too," Jeff pointed out.

"Jeff, I was mad at them because I didn't think I could take Adderall again, and they did," Annie qualified. "But I should have known that I'll _always _be capable of it."

"Annie, the police should give me the pen camera back soon. Do I need to 'film' your rehab doctors before I give it back to Abed's friend?" Jeff wondered. "If they're telling you nonsense already, I guess I'll have to."

"It's not nonsense, Jeff," Annie said simply. "No matter how I had them, I've had two Adderall breakdowns in my life. Three if you count how _stupid _I was to almost drink it today!"

"But you didn't. I almost dragged you out of class at least four times before you put that coffee down. But I barely managed to trust you, and it paid off," Jeff informed.

"Until you knocked it away the next time," Annie added.

"Hey, how could I know you weren't planning to drink it then? It's not like you explained it to me," Jeff reminded. "You know I'm not as good at reading your mind as I should be."

"I didn't expect you to freak out that much either. So I guess we're even," Annie evened out. Then she had to wonder, "So why didn't you do that the first four times? Why did you trust me to put the coffee down on my own?"

"Because I trusted that you didn't willingly take Adderall the last two weeks either. And I was right. Against all odds and idiot friends, I was right," Jeff recapped. "I figured that earned you some trust this time too. And you rewarded it. But when I thought you changed your mind after all….I went blank."

There was so much room to ask why he went _that _blank, and why he felt _that _scared. But if Annie asked that, she would have been bogged down in it for the rest of the car ride. And she had still a more important point to make.

"Jeff, I don't know if you should have trusted me. Sure, I was strong enough to see how dumb I was in the end. But just barely," Annie recounted. "No matter how much I said I'm not who I was, a part of me will always be like that. It came back worse than ever these last two weeks. And because of that, I'm right back to where I was five years ago. Back to group therapy and picking myself up all over again."

"Well, there are a few major differences, obviously," Jeff butted back in.

"And even with all that, it almost wasn't enough. As loved and as happy and as blessed as I am, I almost let myself ruin it anyway," Annie regretted. "As long as I live, there's a chance it could happen again. And that's how long? 60, 70 years if I'm lucky?"

Jeff would have joked/sincerely added, "If we're all lucky," before Annie answered for him.

"I spent five years getting better. Five incredibly hard, soul searching years. It took so much out of me, Jeff. And I barely survived it," Annie recapped. "How am I going to survive 70 more years without relapsing again? I couldn't do it for five! What if I make another enemy who tries this crap again? Or what if I just get tired of being strong? The odds are that I'll be tempted at least one more time!"

Jeff wanted to jump in and say otherwise, but he sensed that Annie wasn't done venting yet. And he was right, as she finished, "I'm not saying I'll stop fighting it, because I never will. You've all made sure of that. But I'll never stop being capable of slipping up, either. It's going to be like this for the rest of my life, in one way or another. And there's too much time left for me _not _to fall off again."

"That will _never _happen. _Ever_," Jeff took advantage of his open window.

"How do you know that for sure, Jeff?" Annie asked, then realized, "Right. By that logic, how do I know for sure that I'll relapse? Good one, future Jeff."

Present and future Jeff hadn't planned to make that point yet, but the Jeffs weren't about to refuse credit for something anyway. Yet present Annie wasn't finished.

"But seriously, how do you know? How do you know I won't slip up for good next time? How do you know I didn't slip up _this _time?" Annie zeroed in. "I mean, you never answered that one. How did you know I didn't take Adderall myself all this time, when _none _of them did?"

Jeff didn't know if he could explain how he really knew it in his heart. He was barely ready to explain it to himself, much less to Annie. He didn't even know if he had a good enough answer to help her out here. Plus they were almost at her apartment, which gave him less free time to work with.

They stayed in silence for the next minute, although Jeff knew Annie would assume he had no answer after all. He couldn't let her think that, but he was just about to park in front of the apartment, so time was short.

And how could he sum up everything about Annie that let him see the truth – to her, himself or anyone? How would it even look? Should that even matter? Why shouldn't Annie be more important to him than that by now? She was….

Somehow, this unlocked the answer for Jeff just as he stopped the car.

Before Annie could think to get out, Jeff revealed his answer without over thinking it, over fearing the consequences, or caring about anything but her.

"You're Annie Edison."

Annie froze in her seat. Not over the words, since Jeff had said her full name before. But there was something different in how he said it now. Something filled with awe and reverence.

Then he added, "That's the only thing I needed to know."

Annie had seen schmoopy looks from Jeff before, even if he denied making them or if she called them something else in public. But none of those looks compared to this one. None of them made her feel as valued as she did right now.

For a moment, Annie could almost see herself through Jeff's eyes. Seeing herself through her own eyes hadn't been much fun today, or the last two weeks. But seeing herself the way Jeff saw her was startling. Like she was some kind of superwoman; which was pretty much what Jeff thought during the Annie Kim showdown anyway.

Seeing such belief in her through his eyes – through _anyone's_ eyes – was so foreign to Annie, yet still so powerful.

Annie usually did believe in herself. She did when she didn't drink the coffee, and when she told off Annie Kim. But in those times when she doubted herself, she could take a while to remember how strong and capable she was. And she tended to do stupid things in the meantime, like plan to willingly drink laced coffee.

Yet Jeff didn't look like he needed to build himself up before believing in her. He just did it. It seemed to come naturally to him in that moment. It must have come naturally when he believed in her these last two weeks, even when no one else did.

To be worthy of such esteem was unfamiliar to Annie. But it was like a drug in its own right.

All her life, Annie had tried to be someone who could do _everything_, and it often came at a cost. And yet for the first time, after seeing and realizing how Jeff believed in her, she finally felt like someone who could do _anything_.

Annie felt tears coming down her face as she took that in. However, she wasn't sobbing. These tears were quiet and more meaningful, and not necessarily out of sadness.

"Thank you," Annie said in a whisper. When that opened the floodgates, she added, "Not just for that, or today, but for everything. For being…." She couldn't put what Jeff was into coherent words right now, so she settled for repeating, "Thank you."

Annie wiped her tears and brought herself to look at Jeff again. She carefully put a hand on his arm, unsure if she could go any further. Jeff didn't tend to let heartfelt gestures land for too long, especially the really big, out of character ones; or at least out of the character he made himself out to be. So he might be closing his heart up again, or working on a joke to defuse the seriousness.

Instead, he put an arm around her waist and gave her permission to come in closer.

Once Annie wrapped both arms around him, Jeff let his free arm hug her too. She shook a bit in his arms, but she wasn't in one of her old crying jags. In fact, once her body straightened up, Jeff's began to slump. The fact that she was safe in his arms, after a whole day of fear that she might be lost to him, was overwhelming.

He meant to think she might be lost to everyone.

No he didn't. That was one lie too many.

Jeff didn't go so far as to cry. But his body started to sink in Annie's arms, after everything that she and his own emotions put him through today.

Yet before he could get too emotional, Annie tightened her hug. She patted his back twice, then began to rub it soothingly. Before long, the added intensity and warmth of Annie's hug made Jeff's body straighten back up.

It was like she instinctively knew to prop him up when he needed it. Just as he somehow knew how to do it for her. How they knew to do that for each other.

Somewhere deep down, Jeff knew they could do that at their best. Somewhere deep down, he knew he didn't let that happen as much as he should have. At this moment, he had no idea why. His old time honored excuses seemed unbelievably stupid now.

All that mattered was that for the second time in 24 hours, he was holding Annie and was just happy to hold her. There were no sexual thoughts, no nerves about what it meant or looked like, and no need to dismiss anything that any of them felt. This was enough.

This was enough for a lot of reasons.

However, Jeff was snapped out of his epiphany when Annie pulled away.

"I guess I'll head up now," she said evenly. "I've got a whole weekend of resting and doing nothing ahead of me. I'm sure that won't be _too _weird for me by spring break." She gave a mild chuckle, then looked at Jeff for just a second before stating, "I'll see you on Monday, Jeff."

As soon as Annie opened the car door, Jeff didn't want her to leave. It might have been out of fear again, even though she was perfectly safe. Yet he felt a window of opportunity would be closing if he let her leave now.

But that could be another case of irrational fear making him feel things he shouldn't feel, and wouldn't under normal circumstances. Therefore, it didn't count for real.

It did count when he knocked that coffee away, although it was actually completely unnecessary and almost ruined everything. And acting on this would count enough to inevitably ruin everything too, whether it did so tomorrow, or next month, or in a year, or 10 years, or 50.

But this was a world where Annie beat her addictions _twice _on her own, and kicked an evil doppleganger's ass twice over on her own. In that world, anything was possible.

And this new fear over her leaving wasn't because she might be gone for good soon. He knew that fear well enough to know this wasn't it. This was fear that if he missed whatever opportunity he had now, he'd be too dumb and gutless to try again.

His more rational side still said it was too reckless, yet there was a good reckless and a bad reckless. When it came to the least dumb and gutless person he'd ever met, Jeff had been a bad kind of reckless long enough.

"Annie, wait!" Jeff called as she made it to the front door. He got out of the Lexus in a flash, before he could second guess himself. Yet it made him forget to come up with more words before he got to the door.

As Annie looked a little puzzled and curious, Jeff put together the best words he had, under the circumstances. "I know you need a while to recover, but when you're up for it, maybe we could find time to celebrate your recovery. Like at a restaurant or movie theater, or some other third thing."

Annie's curiosity and confusion ratcheted up, as she started to put it together. "Do you mean it like a d-" she asked before clamming up.

She probably didn't want to jump to conclusions, although this was the right one. Thanks to Jeff's past dismissals, she probably didn't want to assume or 'read into' anything and was holding herself back.

This was the absolute last straw Jeff needed to go further. He didn't want Annie to hold anything back for him anymore.

No matter how touchy-feely, nerdy, girly, moral or smiley she could be, Jeff wanted to see every part of her, and the parts he hadn't seen yet, as much as possible now. He wanted all of Annie in his life, and he wanted it right near the center – if not closer before too long.

"Yes, Annie. Like a d. Also known as a date."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX

Jeff and Annie could be incredibly strong and incredibly fearful people. When they weren't strong, they allowed various insecurities, self-doubt, and denial about who they were and what they really wanted to consume them.

When that happened in the past, they turned to destructive crutches to protect and defend themselves. In Annie's case, it used to be Adderall. In Jeff's case, it was being a jerk and putting himself above all others.

As better as they were at handling fear over the years, something as stressful and important as a date together could have paralyzed them. Even if their old crutches weren't as available or tempting anymore, they could have still been easily afraid enough to hide behind other vices.

But then their date came weeks later. And after they first saw each other, their pulses didn't go up for the rest of the night.

Not out of fear, anyway.

**THE END**


End file.
